Teachers who are committed to DAP enact that commitment in the decisions they make about materials, interactions, curriculum, and instruction. To make good decisions they must know a lot about the children in their care. Where are those children in their learning and development? Which goals will be challenging and achievable for them, and which would be an unreasonable stretch?

Three fundamental considerations should guide us in our information gathering and decision making. Consider what is

Age appropriate

Individually appropriate

Culturally appropriate

From such understanding flow guidelines to inform the practice of all early childhood teachers. That is, what teachers must do to enact DAP principles. Those guidelines define five key aspects of good teaching:

Creating a caring community of learners

Teaching to enhance development and learning

Planning appropriate curriculum

Assessing children’s development and learning

Developing reciprocal relationships with families

These five aspects of teachers’ work are closely interrelated and are integral parts of the whole that is early childhood practice.

We look forward to reading your questions and participating in this online conversation about Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8.

— Carol Copple and Sue Bredekamp, with Janet Gonzalez-Mena

Comments

A special thank you to Carol Copple, Sue Bredekamp, and Janet Gonzalez-Mena for participating in this Q&A and for your thoughtful and detailed responses. Many thanks to everyone who posted questions and participated in this great conversation.

Good afternoon. I am a mother of 2 and an aunt of 3. I have been volunteering in my children's school for 10 years in some form or another. This past summer I deiced to start taking early education class at my local community college just to get my feet wet. I absolutely love it! What general advice and resource information can you provide? Thank you very much for your time and have a wonderful day!

First, let me say that I’m thrilled that you have discovered early childhood education and wish to pursue it as a career. So many people come into our field after they have had their own children and been involved as volunteers -- I call it “the parent route”. And then they find out, like you, that they want to learn more & more. I have lots of advice but I’ll try to be brief. First, join NAEYC (if you haven’t already) and stay up to date by getting their resources & checking their website regularly. Become a comprehensive member and get 5 or 6 great books each year hot off the press. If possible with your family responsibilities, try to attend an NAEYC conference – national is fantastic but definitely go to your state or local meeting. It is so exciting to realize that you are part of a vast group of professionals who are committed to the same thing you are – making a difference in the lives of children and families and experiencing the great joy that comes with it. As for resources, I am biased and can’t help but recommend my own book – I recently wrote an introductory textbook for college students entitled, Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building a Foundation, published by Pearson. Of course, NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice is a must, but there are so many other great resources in their catalog as well. Welcome to our world – you’ll love it!

The answer to your question could take volumes of books, but I'll do what I can in a small space and short amount of time. Learn from the families. Develop relationships with them. Observe them with their children. Have them observe you. Ask questions, if appropriate but not if the people you are asking get defensive. You obviously see yourself as a learner, so that's a great place to start. You don't say how old the children are, but you can also learn from them. Read the book Antibias Education by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards (2010) published by NAEYC. Check out your environment, your interactions, your own attitudes. Recognize yourself as a cultural being and also recognize that ECE has something of a culture of its own. This is a start.

We know that there is a general rule that toddlers should not be required to be in circle until they are 36 months (pg 70 of your book) however, there is not documentation about when you start to require it. In a 2 1/2 year old class, what do you do as they turn three? Is there any documentation that I can give my staff to support them and stay within your guidelines? (Please note...I use the term "require" loosely...I just can't pick a better word)

Can older 2s sit with 3s for a brief time together in a circle, to sing a song perhaps or listen to a short story? You can try and see how it goes. But in terms of preparing toddlers for circle time, it seems you are doing that whenever you sit down with a book and draw children to you. Or you can make yourself available to talk to children who are interested in hanging out with you. Or you can join a couple of toddlers (or a small group) moving to music or who are playing with rhythm instruments. You can be either the intitiator or you can respond to what they intitiate. For me the whole idea is to get them used to the fact that being with other children and an adult is interesting and worthwhile. They don’t have to be all together in a large group.

The early childhood context is changing rapidly bringing both challenges and opportunities. Here’s a quick list of major trends that I think are dominating the conversation as well as having the greatest impact on the field. You can see from just a quick look that these trends are interrelated:
Universal Pre-K movement & increased public school presence
Calls for alignment of PreK to grade 3
Emphasis on learning standards - Head Start outcomes, common core & state Early Learning Standards
Accountability culture - assessment of teacher effectiveness & child outcomes (use of CLASS in Head Start); state data systems (QRIS)
Demand for evidence-based curriculum with literacy & mathematics focus
Increasing linguistic and cultural diversity (need to better serve Dual Language learners)
Home visiting and Early Head Start expansion
Response to Intervention/Inclusion
Structured activity in children’s lives (obesity crisis); threats to child-guided play
Increasing role of digital media at home & in schools, and in professional development
Higher teacher qualifications in Head Start, PreK (we don’t have the workforce we need)
Achievement gap present at preschool and widening over time
Political landscape (Early Learning Challenge Grant, ESEA reauthorization delayed)
Over-riding concern about the economic landscape – highest proportion of children in poverty in decades with very high percentage among African-American and Latino children
Lots to think about and much to do!

I have been working in an early learning center for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers that practice DAP standards. However, I am majoring in elementary deaf education. I was wondering if there are in DAP principles that can be used in that type of setting?

The principles of DAP apply in any setting, though practices of course must be adapted for different children. The field of early childhood special education has long incorporated developmentally appropriate principles into working with children with all kinds of special needs. Here’s a site you might want to take a look at http://american-education.org/early-childhood-education/health-and-speci....

Currently, it seems that the standards for young children have all moved up a year. Preschool is the new kindergarten and kindergarten is a now a world of strict regulations with the importance of play and exploration among children forgotten. How can DAP be implemented in these classrooms to keep the new standards but bring some of the fun back?

Yours is probably the most frequently asked question about DAP and the biggest concern of most early childhood educators. It is true that over the years, the expectations for children’s learning have increased and have become developmentally inappropriate in some cases (that is, they are not achievable for most children in a given age range even with good teaching). It is important to note that this is not true of all the standards out there – the new Head Start Early Learning and Development Framework is certainly developmentally appropriate and many state standards were developed with considerable input from early childhood educators.
There are several reasons why this “push down” trend has occurred and it has been going on a long time. Most people attribute the trend to the increased emphasis on standardized test scores in the early grades and the accountability movement’s focus on child outcomes. But a positive contributing factor is that we now know more about the kinds of skills and abilities that predict children’s later success in school. In addition, we know that children are more capable of learning complex concepts (in mathematics, for example) than we previously thought. Unfortunately, many children, especially those from low income families or dual language learners, have not had the prior experiences at home that prepare them for the rigors of these higher standards.
The main thing to keep in mind is that teachers are still the most important determinants of the quality of children’s experiences and their learning. And there is considerable research that supports the use of a variety of teaching strategies that are developmentally appropriate such as socio-dramatic play -- for self-regulation, language and literacy learning, and block building and board games for mathematics. Children learn phonemic awareness by singing and playing rhyming games. They learn vocabulary and background knowledge through small group story book reading with opportunities to talk about what is read. Children gain literacy skills by doing their own writing whether while they are playing restaurant or while they are describing their drawing. Teachers themselves have the power to be playful and joyful with children, establish warm positive relationships, speak kindly, and make learning fun.

A very simple short answer is – Try Hard. But of course, there is a long answer, too. The first step is to think about your own perspective on the relationship and try hard to consider the parents’ perspective. Perhaps their own experiences with school were negative or in their cultural group, it is appropriate to defer to teachers rather than become involved yourself, or it could be that they aren’t sure what to do. In today’s world, it is also highly possible that life’s circumstances are overwhelming and there is no time or energy left. It is important to begin with the assumption that parents want the best for their children even if their specific goals don’t match your expectations. Then, begin a relationship with small steps, always focusing on the positive – try to provide real evidence of how capable and enjoyable their children are. This is what the Reggio Emilia-type documentation does so well. Even if a child is challenging for you – try to catch them doing something right and share that with the parents. Most parents become more open when they feel shared pride in their child’s accomplishments. Reciprocal relationships take work but they benefit teachers and parents, and most of all – children.

I think it is appropriate only when the child has done something that requires him to be pulled away from the group to collect himself and to reflect on what happened. With young children I don't feel it is necessary unless the student ahs become violent or hysterical. In my opinion, the students should be spoken with calmy about the situation and if necesasary asked to apologize to the other students involved.

Though it was not originally meant to be given a punishment, time out was often used that way--or felt that way by children--both in early childhood settings and at home. Current thinking is that it is not effective when used in a "You're in time ou!" way, and may backfire. There are still situations in which the child needs some time to get his composure back and the adult can give him or other quiet activity to help him calm down--drawing, playdough, reading, or something of the kind. For developmentally appropriate guidance practices, you can look at the Guidance section of the DAP book (pp. 158-159 and 227-228) as well as the Guidance Matters column online http://www.naeyc.org/yc/columns/guidance.

Just to add my two cents. For some cultures time out is considered "shunning" which is the ultimate punishment and much much too strong for a young child. Also what some children need is "time in," that is, help with their behavior from the group - rather than being separated from it.

Interesting question. Like Rome, DAP wasn’t built in a day. Many people contributed over many years. The first DAP volume came out of the work of a working group of leaders and then was pulled together and put on the page by Sue Bredekamp. Then a great deal of thinking and work--at NAEYC and across the field--went into the next edition of DAP, published in 1997, and then again in 2009. Each time NAEYC staff held many sessions to hear from members about the issues they saw as important to rethink, restate, or get clearer about. Then drafts were offered to the field (online and in other ways) for comment in order to get even broader feedback. Because DAP is meant to reflect the best thinking of the field as a whole, it is not developed by a few individuals sitting down and writing but by this kind of conversation among a great many early childhood educators.

I know of any early childhood teacher who uses words such as "scootch" and "kapeesh?" As you can probably see, I do not know how to spell these words. When the teacher uses the word "scootch" I believe she means it in a negative way. An example would be: "Are you being a "scootch"? Meaning naughty. When she uses the word kapeesh I think she means, "Do you understand?".
Is either of these appropriate?

I feel like it is appropropriate to use these words sometimes but not all of the time because it is important to get on the students level but can have developmental harms if used all of the time. Students need to hear correct grammar and English but at the same time sometimes it is okay to speak to them using made up words because it relates to them better.

I have used the word scootch when asking children to move over a little bit; usually when they are sitting on the carpet. As in "scootch over a little bit please so Julia can have room to sit down." That is the only way I have ever used this word or heard it used. Hope this helps.

I am a teacher of special needs preschoolers in a public schools. DAP at the K level concerns me greatly. My 5-year-old IEP students MUST transition to Kinder, but they are then subject to DIBELS and intensive academics--ready or not. Is there a program in the US you know of that supports a truly appropriate DAP? (Private? Public? State Mandated?)
Sometimes I think there should be a "leveled-K" program in the schools. A Level 1 K, half day prep program and a Level 2 K---full day prep for 1st grade. Students could go from preschool to Level 1 or 2---and advance from Level 1 to Level 2. Some of my students---and I have both IEP and tuition models----are fully ready for a whole day and intensive academic instruction. Others are in for a shock!
Perhaps preschool should be mandated?

No, it doesn’t. For a variety of reasons, including personality, some children just start verbalizing later, and they rapidly catch up. You or your granddaughter’s parents should talk with her doctor (and to her teacher if she goes to a child care program) about whether (or at what point) a hearing test and/or a developmental screening would be indicated.

I do not think it should be a requirement because children spend enough time in school and it should the parents rights to say if they want their child enrolled in school at the age of 3 and 4. I do think that it would be a wonderful thing to see all students in school at this age because it would help the students more in kindergarten but if all students are not enrolled in PreK then I feel that it does not help that much because they will get retaught the same things in Kindergarten.

I’m a little confused by your question because Pre-K and K are early education programs. I assume you are asking whether children from birth to age 4 should be required to attend formal programs. There is a large body of research demonstrating that children who attend high quality preschool are more likely to be successful in kindergarten and beyond. Therefore, it is imperative that more children have access to early education. However, there is a difference between requiring that children attend and requiring that adequate funding be available for such programs to exist. In states where universal, voluntary Pre-K is offered, a high percentage of parents choose to enroll their children. Families want and need more access to Head Start and Early Head Start for infants and toddlers. But families have diverse needs and desires for their children. Very young children thrive at home in loving relationships with their families, and in engaging, interesting environments. Many employed families need out-of-home child care for all or part of the day. What is most important is to increase funding so that all programs are high quality and are available for all children and families who choose to use them.

I attended the teleconference in 1999. What would you add or update when using those tapes in a college classroom.
And- what main points would you emphasize in the new book which my students purchase as a text.

I love this question because you are referring to the Leading Edge teleconferences that NAEYC sponsored to disseminate the 1997 revision of Developmentally Appropriate Practice. The teleconferences were very important because there were major changes from the 1987 version of the position statement. Those of us who worked on the teleconference really enjoyed it and I’m glad that you still find those resources useful. But you’re so right teacher educators need to add to and update their use. The most important thing to do is make it clear to students that more than a decade has gone by since those tapes were produced. While the core principles of developmentally appropriate practice have not changed, much has been learned in that time and the 2009 edition reflects that new knowledge. The key points to emphasize when using the new book are summarized on pages 2-4. These include: 1) the current and necessary emphasis on closing the achievement gap which is already present at entry to preschool; 2) the need to provide greater continuity in educational experiences for children from preschool through primary grades (by ensuring that learning standards at each level are challenging, achievable, and foundational and teaching practices are developmentally appropriate); and 3) the critical importance of teacher knowledge and decision-making to educational effectiveness. Other points to emphasize when teaching from the 2009 edition are that the child development information for each age group is updated based on the latest research and a separate chapter is devoted to the kindergarten year – much needed since so many teachers are concerned about the appropriateness of kindergarten practices today. The 2009 edition also places more emphasis on the content of the curriculum that children are learning. At the same time, I’d like to emphasize that some of the most salient aspects of the 1997 edition are still there – these are summarized in chapter 1 “To Be an Excellent Teacher”. My favorite parts of that chapter are the emphases on intentional teaching and Both/And Thinking.

I am a pre-student teacher in a first grade classroom and I am actively involved in the lives of children 3-8 back in my hometown. I am always practicing DAP when i go back home when i babysit or when i am around these children, but many times i notice their own parents or grandparents not practicing DAP and it worries me that these children are getting mixed signals. Is there a way to fix this and if there is then how? I would greatly appreciate your advice.
Take Care,
Chloe

With the families of your students, communicating about various strategies that work well with children at a given age can come up in a natural way and you can share information with these parents and, if you handle this communication in the spirit of partnering with them, they will usually see it as appropriate and welcome it. The situation is of course different with people you are babysitting for, or even members of your extended family. They are likely to resent even the most well-meaning comments or advice. If you’re just doing a one-time babysitting job, you might find it best to refrain from comments. But if you know the people well enough to judge how open they may be, you could try framing your comment as coming from your own learning and experiences at your school that you’re excited about sharing—not as implying criticism of what you’ve seen them do. For example, “You know, I have a boy in my class who reminds me a bit of James, and something we’ve been doing with him that seems to work well [or “that he seems to like”] is x. Do you ever do that?” It’s also good to make positive comments when you see the parent do something you think is a good parenting practice: “Cool. When you gave him a choice of two things—brushing his teeth before or after hearing a story--it worked like a charm, didn’t it?”

I've used a similar strategy with parents to encourage developmentally appropriate practice. Parents love to hear positive things about their child, so I use the opportunity to help them understand some DAP strategies. For example, I might say something like, "I enjoy working with Johnny so much! He makes such thoughtful choices. When I asked him which jacket he wanted to wear, he chose the yellow one because it might rain and the yellow one has a hood." To encourage appropriate guidance strategies, I might convey a conversation that I had with the child that demonstrates an increasing level of self-regulation.

I am a pre-student teacher in a fifth grade classroom. Is it possible to create a DAP center for my students? What what my center look like? Would my students be able to use tools to open their imaginations, like pre-schoolers do?

Even though our work on developmentally appropriate practice focuses on children from birth through age 8, I’m glad that you are thinking about it for your fifth graders. DAP is not a center. Instead, it is a set of teaching practices that are based on what we know about how children within a given age range develop and learn. Most definitely fifth graders could use tools to open their imaginations and they would probably be very excited to have the opportunity. Sometimes, as children go along in elementary school, they get discouraged or lose interest because there is so much emphasis on test scores and rote learning. Think about the goals of the curriculum and the ways that you can plan more active learning experiences to help children achieve them. Planning a project, conducting hands-on science experiments, creative writing, presenting a play, and many other active learning experiences would be developmentally appropriate for fifth graders.

I teach in a college preparation program for fresh early childhood educators. In our program, candidates are well-versed on DAP and all that it embodies. However, when we place them in schools....public, private, charter, parochial, urban and suburban they OFTEN do not see DAP in practice. Unfortunately, particularly in our public urban schools, teachers are required to use VERY scripted programs. Do you find this a common concern? How do other teacher preparation programs address this respectfully?

Yes, I’m afraid it is a very common situation. It’s very hard indeed for the individual teacher, especially a new teacher, to diverge from the required curriculum. It is when schools or districts fail to achieve good results using these highly scripted approaches that they may be receptive to trying something else. There are education approaches that are getting good results even in tough circumstances. College faculty and teachers (banding together to make their voices heard) can encourage principals and other education leaders to look at these approaches that are developmentally appropriate, engaging, strong on involving families, and so on and that have good track records.

Is the ECERS DAP for all programs no matter where they are located? We live the Alaska in which there is snow and ice from October to May, therefore our board walks and playgrounds will never "pass". Then, we have students that live in homes where the water is in a tank (limited amounts- when it's yellow let it mellow etc..) therefore, flushing and running water while washing/brushing teeth is not "normal" AND does ECERS really address our environmental impact and make for better teaching practices that are all DAP?

The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) is based on the same body of knowledge and principles of child development as developmentally appropriate practice. One of the principles of DAP, however, is that practices should be adapted to children’s social and cultural contexts. The key to your question is how the ECERS is used. If it is used to monitor and evaluate a program, for example, there needs to be some flexibility regarding conditions such as the geography and climate that you describe. Similarly, what is necessary and acceptable in children’s homes may not be acceptable in a formal early childhood program due to health and safety regulations. Children can and should learn that what is expected or “normal” behavior in one environment is not acceptable in another.

I am a kindergarten teacher working in a district that unfortunately does not value developmentally appropriate practice. Our kindergarten students are being made to switch classes and teachers for reading this year. I do not consider this developmentally appropriate in any way. Could you speak to this issue and to the general inappropriateness of many kindergarten programs across the nation? Thank you so much for your time and your advocacy.

In my opinion this is not appropriate for kindergarten because 5 year olds have enough of a hard time adjusting to going to school, being away from their parents, and getting use to the teacher. 5 year olds being made to switch classes will slow down adjustment and makeit harder for the students to adjust in the first place. Students need routine and an adult they can count on, at 5 years old two teachers is too much for them to handle.

You are not alone in your concern about kindergarten practices. In many places, kindergarten today is what first grade used to be. There seem to be two main, interrelated problems – inappropriate expectations for what children can achieve (such as all children being able to read conventionally by the end of kindergarten regardless of their prior opportunities to learn) which then leads to inappropriate and often ineffective teaching practices such as too much whole group instruction and drill. I’m not sure why your kindergartners are switching classes but I assume that the reading instruction is designed to group children by ability. Or it could be that teachers are assigned to teach what they do best. Either way, it seems like an additional challenge and stress that kindergartners do not need. However, children take their cues from their teachers. If this situation is not going to change, it is very important that the teachers work collaboratively to minimize any potential negative effects and create a real community of learners across classes.

There are so many commercial preschool assessments out there. Which ones do you consider DAP and how does one decide which tests will provide the information required for accountability? Early childhood educators get caught in the middle of having to prove they are meeting standards, yet are given inappropriate standard assessment tools. We are expected to show growth and children are expected to perform on tests that most are not yet developmentally prepared to do so. Can you give me some real answers to unrealistic expectations. Thank you.

Identifying specific assessments as "DAP" or otherwise endorsing them is something we cannot do here. Also, you will probably be constrained in what you can use by what is used for acccountability in your state/district. But in your efforts to advicate for good assessment, here are some useful resources about what sound, developmentally appropriate assessment looks like: Basics of Assessment: A Primer for Early Childhood Professionals by McAfee, Leong, and Bodrova (NAEYC 2004); Understanding Assessment and Evaluation in Early Childhood Education, 2d ed. by Gullo (Teachers College Press 2004): and Epstein et al., Preschool Assessment: A Guide to Developing a Balanved Approach, available on the NIEER website at http://nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/7.pdf.

We live in a world that we need to have "data" for our students for funding as well as providing for "interventions" for RTI, too. What is available besides the DIAL for screening? Is the DIAL 4 "better" DAP for 3 year olds and easier to score? Do you have any other suggestions for screenings for data/RTI/referrals? Is there a quicker way to give language samples which can be scored on some type of Rubic's that is DAP AND appropriate for a classroom teacher rather than a speech pathologist or SPED teacher?